"Dark Places" is an undeniably suitable name for a film about hiding, deception and its consequences. Moreover, the film's title intuitively suggests the journey into the dark recesses of the subconscious and memory that locks away traumas of the past.

The film is split into two major narratives, one taking place in 1985 and the other in the present, and relates the murders of the Day females by the lone son Ben. The only other survivor of the Day is Libby (Charlize Theron) and she is forced to confront that past in order to improve her future.

The film's opening image, handheld and in black and white, is a literal manifestation of the major themes of Gilles Paquet-Brenner's work. Filmed from a subjective perspective and with a plethora of grain, the audience is thrust into a world that it cannot see clearly. In fact, as the granular quality and unstable movement suggests, this world is highly unstable and deceptive, almost unreal.

The shot is from Libby's perspective and ends on her in her mother's bed. The latter character whispers to her, rather unclearly at first but then with greater clarity the second time she tells her daughter she loves her. It is an eerie start to the film, trapping the audience and confusing them all the same.

Moments later, the sense of subjective perspective and hallucination continues with Libby now in a hospital room, alone. The omniscient voice of an interrogator booms through the room, almost God-like and disorienting.

Then we move ahead to the present where Libby, now an adult, is also showcased as a lonely soul. Paquet-Brenner goes through great lengths to show Libby as detached. She wears a cap that not only covers her hair, but also shields her face from light, thus putting her in shadow. Libby remains in the dark about her past for most of the film, clinging desperately to her own constructed idea about the events that transpired the night her mother and sisters were murdered. She wears this cap for almost the entire film with two exceptions.

In her first interaction with another person at a restaurant, Libby is shown in shadow, a curtain covering a window behind her and her scene partner baked in the highlights of light. Libby is also shown to be in the dark in this scene about her financial situations.

When the scene shifts to her apartment, Libby is shown to be an emotional wreck, the place littered with mountains of stuff that is disorganized and claustrophobic. Later, we learn that most of this rubble come from her old home, thus establishing that Libby is defined by her past but still unable to organize her life and get past it. She will eventually clear some of it to open a door and reveal a dark secret that will help her uncover the mystery behind the killings.

Her call to action comes in the form of Lyle Wirth, a young man who is a part of the Kill Club. He convinces Libby to speak to his club, yet another deception used to get her to confront her situation. The Kill Club, decorated with a sticker of eyes at its entrance (a symbol that will be personified moments later during an interrogation of Libby), serves as the place where Libby is to confront her reality and overcome her own dark secrets. This sequences actually shows Libby ascend from a dark basement with its strobe-lighting, making it hard to make out the world around her to a level in which people role-play at solving crimes to the upper level where private investigators are actually engaged in crime solving, the room flooded with light and serving as a huge contrast to the first level. It serves as a symbolic expression of Libby's own journey throughout the film from the darkness of ambiguity and secrets to the clarity of truth and light. This concept is also expressed in the film's opening images with Libby's subjective black and white image juxtaposed with a sunny shot of her driving away in control of her destiny.

Moreover, it is during the Kill Club sequence and the final images that Libby finally takes off her hat, the two instances showing the character confronting her reality and preparing for a future in which she can let go of her past traumas.

Match cutting is used prominently throughout the film to link Libby with her own mother, the main victim and protagonist of the 1985 narrative. While Libby tries to piece together the murder and potentially save her brother, her mother is trying to stave off poverty and save her family while also trying to help her rebellious son Ben. There are moments where an action from one character links with another moment from another narrative. Initially the links are seldom, but they grow tighter and tighter as the narrative progresses (Patty hangs up the phone after receiving news that will ultimately end her life; then the film cuts to Libby picking up a phone call that will provide her with insight and knowledge that ultimately saves her) until the two narratives merge with two attempted murders, one in the past and the other in the present. In both cases Libby is escaping from death at the hands of the same person. In one, she jumps out of a window and hides while in the other she climbs out to freedom, a symbolic gesture that ultimately defines the character movement and development. In the case of the first escape, Libby ironically hides in a shed; she is viewed in an imprisoned state, a reflection of what her life winds up being from there on. In her second escape, she hides as well, but this time she is out in the open, the truth finally revealed to her, allowing her to come to terms with her own mistakes.

Other characters in the film play with deception and hiding. One character hides her pregnancy from her family. One character hides himself in sewage dump. Another character hides a secret that could save his life. Another hides from the world. The murderer is also disguised under a mythological guise as well and is only portrayed in shadows. In arguably the most prominent gesture in the film, one character's decision to hide another from death ultimately costs him his freedom. All of these secrets cause grave consequences on the characters who decide to engage in the deception and only the revelation of truth frees them from their burdens, whether with positive or negative consequences.

The film's gradual movement from prominent night into day adds to the symbolic and emotional resonance with Charlize Theron's character arc expressed through her initial detachment and aggression toward contact and the eventual smile and warmth toward strangers. Lyle is little more than a plot motivator, pushing Libby toward action, but even their relationship undergoes a visual arc with Libby initially chiding him for getting too close before seeking a hug from him as consolation at the end of her journey. This is also expressed through her troubled interactions with Ben; the two characters initially interact through glass, each meeting featuring tighter framings, until they finally meet in an open room without the separation of glass.

Aside from Theron's powerful performance, Chloe Grace Moretz is a powerhouse as the sexually imposing Diondra, her violent potential on full display in a number of sequences of the film. Nothing is more disturbing than seeing the blood splatter all over her face after an aggressive act of brutality. Tye Sheridan gives Ben awkwardness, while also making him appear timid and reserved. While the narrative tells the audience that he is a cold-blooded killer, Sheridan's performance slowly reveals Ben as a weak character that is rebellious but noble at heart. It is a rather subtle motion, but his radical behaviors are always imbued with hesitancy and a sense of tragedy.

Corey Stoll plays on this sense of reserve as the older Ben while Christina Hendricks is a tremendous counterpoint to Theron as her mother Patty. Where Theron's character is detached, Hendrick's Patty is full of warmth and love for her children. She might appear weak in some instances, but her eyes betray a building sense of pain and suffering as her difficulties mount. Her character's tragic end also adds a strong balance to her daughter's own redemption in the other plot.

Will audiences like it?

Those that enjoy crime thrillers will get a kick out of "Dark Places" and the familial turmoil it explores. There are certainly some questionable choices at work, particularly with the Satanist themes that appear throughout. The final revelation of the killer is also be rather anti-climactic with the build-up at play. These ideas seem to be plot devices and filler that ultimately does not enrich the nuanced narrative at work.